Much has been reported lately about rising religious tensions in the UK. To some degree you can understand it. Here you have a culture long established and steeped in tradition and now that’s being challenged by a new tradition, a new religion and culture. Rather than set aside their ways for the old ones of the UK or maybe taking a more private stance about worshipping their way, these people are demanding their views become accepted. So when you hear this along with it now becoming the 4th largest religion in the UK with 400,000 members and growing, well, the natives are going to be put off, and that’s precisely what happened recently.

Jedi Master Jonba Hehol (before becoming a Jedi, he was known as Barney) was giving a tv interview in Holyhead (where else, right?) when a man wearing a trash bag (Brits call ‘em “bin-bags”), a Darth Vader helmet and brandishing a crutch, leapt over the garden fence and beat the hell out of him and broke open some whoop ass on the camera crew and a hairdresser as well. Apparently Jonba’s faith in “the Force”, the belief in an energy force in the world that one can master and harness, did little good against this attacker who was empowered with his own version of the force allegedly, a local favorite of several pints from the pub.

According to wikipedia, the Jedi religion is growing worldwide. More than 70,000 have claimed to be members in Australia and 53,000 in New Zealand. Only 20,000 have been reported in Canada and there are currently no stats on any inroads made into the US, but I fear if those poms can get riled up enough to do something like this, imagine what would happen here?

Of course some places may be more inviting, like Las Vegas.

No doubt though, this rise in popularity may be perceived as a threat to more established religions so we may be seeing far worse in the future. May the Force be with us all.